Louise Richardson, principal of St Andrews University, says members of the
Royal and Ancient Golf Club taunted her after she was denied membership of
the all-male establishment

For some, it was a perk of the job. Others have claimed the networking opportunities it presented made it a vital part of their role.

Either way, it has become traditional for the principal of St Andrew’s University to be granted honorary membership of the town’s renowned Royal and Ancient Golf Club, just 600 yards from their office and frequently host to the Open Championships.

Until, that is, Louise Richardson was appointed as the university’s first female principal in 2009. The all-male club, which will vote on whether to admit women in September, refused to exempt her from the existing rules.

Now Prof Richardson has claimed that some club members compounded the snub by waving their club ties in her face to “draw attention” to her lack of membership.

Louise Richardson, principal of the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland (New York Times / Redux / eyevine)

Prof Richardson, an Irish American, joined the university from Harvard, where she was executive dean of the university's institute for advanced study.

She said their actions “offended” her female colleagues and left her unable to entertain university donors in the clubhouse, traditionally an important part of the principal’s role.

In an interview in the run-up to the vote, which will be held on the same day as the Scottish independence referendum, Prof Richardson said she had shunned invitations to occasional lunches for “well-behaved wives”, insisting she will not enter the clubhouse until she is entitled to membership.

“Once or twice, female professors have seen me in situations where I’m surrounded by men wearing their R&A ties, and they get really upset and offended for me,” she said.

Some of the members would then wave their ties at her “to draw my attention, lest I didn’t notice”. “They think that’s funny,” she said.

When Prof Richardson, a 55-year-old political scientist, was appointed in 2009, Alex Salmond, the Scottish First Minister, attempted to persuade the club to bend its rules to grant her membership, but it refused. Her two male predecessors, Brian Lang and Struther Arnott, were both given honorary memberships on their appointment. “You can imagine how I feel about that,” she said at the time.

Her intervention is timely, ahead of this year’s Open Championships, which begin on Thursday at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Last year, Salmond boycotted the event at Muirfield, condemning its men-only policy as “indefensible in the 21st century”.

In the past, the R&A has defended its stance. Last year, Peter Dawson, its chief executive, said the issue was “divisive” and had been “beaten to death”.

But after pressure from sponsors, the club announced earlier this year that it would hold a ballot of its 2,500 male members on 18 September. A two-thirds majority is required to overturn the bar on women.

The club's committees are now said to be "strongly in favour of the rule change", and have urged members to endorse the change.

Prof Richardson said the rules prevented her doing her job. “A supporter of the university got in touch and asked if he could possibly have lunch at the R&A,” she told The New York Times.

“I had to arrange for somebody I know to take him to lunch at the R&A because, of course, I can’t. And I had to arrange for another member of staff to take his wife to lunch some place in town because, of course, she can’t get into the R&A, either.”

Prof Richardson is a golfer, and took up the sport as a child to spend time with her father.

“The last thing I want to do is sound strident about this because on my list of concerns, it’s not high up there, and yet it’s tough when you think about it,” she said.

“Here’s St Andrew’s University, ranked third in the UK, we’re an organisation of 10,000 people, we support 9,000 jobs, I run this place very successfully and I’m not allowed in the clubhouse 600 yards from my house?

“I should say I have occasionally been invited into the clubhouse. I think once a month on a Sunday, wives that are well-behaved are invited to a lunch, something like that. People have said ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take you to a lunch’. But I’ve said, ‘I’m not eating in the clubhouse until women can enter.’”

A spokesman for the R&A declined to comment on Prof Richardson’s remarks.